TY - JOUR
T1 - Genetic Diversity and Demographic Connectivity of Atlantic Green Sea Turtles at Foraging Grounds in Northeastern Colombia, Caribbean Sea
AU - Vásquez-Carrillo, Catalina
AU - Noriega-Hoyos, Carmen L.
AU - Hernandez-Rivera, Leidy
AU - Jáuregui-Romero, Guiomar Aminta
AU - Sullivan Sealey, Kathleen
N1 - Funding Information:
Thanks to the University of Miami and Colciencias, for supporting the principal investigator doctoral studies. We are grateful with the Wayuu fishermen communities of Bahia Hondita and Santa Cruz in La Guajira, for providing access to their fishing bycatch. We thank the Bahia Hondita Conservation Stewards group and biologist Luis Merizalde for their guidance and advice in the field. We give thanks to the Asociaci?n de Pescadores de Don Diego fishermen from Santa Marta area for collaborating with us. Also, we thank our field assistants, biologists Manuela Pelaez, Kellys Iguar?n, and Jacob Patus, as well as our simultaneous translator and field assistant Lorenzo Arends. We deeply thank the Wayuu indigenous families (Sapuana, Gonzales, and Iguar?n) for hosting and supporting us in the field. We thank oceanographer Dr. Maria Olascoaga at the University of Miami for obtaining the ocean drifters data. Funding. We thank the Waitt Foundation/National Geographic Society Scientific Grant W441-16 for the financial support for field exploration in La Guajira. We also thank the Ocean Foundation?s sea turtle grant for funding support for genetics laboratory analyses. We acknowledge the funding support from the Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano and Petrobras, which allowed work with the fishermen communities in the Santa Marta region.
Funding Information:
We thank the Waitt Foundation/National Geographic Society Scientific Grant W441-16 for the financial support for field exploration in La Guajira. We also thank the Ocean Foundation’s sea turtle grant for funding support for genetics laboratory analyses. We acknowledge the funding support from the Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano and Petrobras, which allowed work with the fishermen communities in the Santa Marta region.
Publisher Copyright:
© Copyright © 2020 Vásquez-Carrillo, Noriega-Hoyos, Hernandez-Rivera, Jáuregui-Romero and Sullivan Sealey.
Copyright:
Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2020/2/21
Y1 - 2020/2/21
N2 - The Atlantic green sea turtle Chelonia mydas is a migratory and endangered species with a network of nesting rookeries (NRs) and foraging grounds (FGs) in the Atlantic basin that needs elucidation. FGs are important areas for immature turtle’s feeding and growth after pelagic migrations. Aggregations of sea turtles at these grounds usually come from genetically distinct NRs; therefore, they are called mixed stocks. The northeastern coast of Colombia has extensive seagrass and macroalgae marine ecosystems that constitute FGs, and perhaps long-term developmental habitats for a significant number of immature C. mydas. However, it is unknown which C. mydas NRs may be using these ecosystems for feeding and development. This study estimated the genetic diversity and genetic origin of C. mydas mixed stocks at two FGs in northeastern Colombia (Santa Marta and La Guajira), and inferred their connections to NRs groups in the Atlantic basin using mitochondrial Control Region (mtCR) as a marker. A high genetic diversity, evidenced by the high nucleotide and haplotype diversities, was found in both studied mixed stocks and may be explained by different contributing NRs groups found with mixed stock analyses (MSAs). At least three genetically distinct groups from different sides of the Atlantic Basin contributed juveniles to the mixed stocks in Colombia. Observed demographic connectivity can be explained by the confluence of two major, opposite directions ocean currents by the study area, the Caribbean Current (westward) and the Panama-Colombia Countercurrent (eastward). The high diversity of turtles at Colombia’s FGs suggests that the area is an important link in the network of habitats used by C. mydas to be considered in management and transnational conservation planning for the species recovery.
AB - The Atlantic green sea turtle Chelonia mydas is a migratory and endangered species with a network of nesting rookeries (NRs) and foraging grounds (FGs) in the Atlantic basin that needs elucidation. FGs are important areas for immature turtle’s feeding and growth after pelagic migrations. Aggregations of sea turtles at these grounds usually come from genetically distinct NRs; therefore, they are called mixed stocks. The northeastern coast of Colombia has extensive seagrass and macroalgae marine ecosystems that constitute FGs, and perhaps long-term developmental habitats for a significant number of immature C. mydas. However, it is unknown which C. mydas NRs may be using these ecosystems for feeding and development. This study estimated the genetic diversity and genetic origin of C. mydas mixed stocks at two FGs in northeastern Colombia (Santa Marta and La Guajira), and inferred their connections to NRs groups in the Atlantic basin using mitochondrial Control Region (mtCR) as a marker. A high genetic diversity, evidenced by the high nucleotide and haplotype diversities, was found in both studied mixed stocks and may be explained by different contributing NRs groups found with mixed stock analyses (MSAs). At least three genetically distinct groups from different sides of the Atlantic Basin contributed juveniles to the mixed stocks in Colombia. Observed demographic connectivity can be explained by the confluence of two major, opposite directions ocean currents by the study area, the Caribbean Current (westward) and the Panama-Colombia Countercurrent (eastward). The high diversity of turtles at Colombia’s FGs suggests that the area is an important link in the network of habitats used by C. mydas to be considered in management and transnational conservation planning for the species recovery.
KW - Chelonia mydas
KW - La Guajira
KW - Santa Marta
KW - developmental habitat
KW - mixed stock
KW - mtDNA Control Region
KW - northeastern Colombia
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85081673440&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3389/fmars.2020.00096
DO - 10.3389/fmars.2020.00096
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85081673440
VL - 7
JO - Frontiers in Marine Science
JF - Frontiers in Marine Science
SN - 2296-7745
M1 - 96
ER -